


New Recruit

by tessdebelle



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Model AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-10
Updated: 2017-02-09
Packaged: 2018-09-23 06:26:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9644342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tessdebelle/pseuds/tessdebelle
Summary: Anonymous Prompted: Melinda May is a model, Phil Coulson has to recruit her for S.H.I.E.L.D. He has a lot of her magazines, and was an admirer from afar.





	1. Chapter 1

Unlike all the other doors at the Philadelphia Modeling Agency, Melinda May’s door was plane white with a plaque reading:

_Model #078624_

_Melinda Q. May_

Phil swallowed nervously, trying to get himself to move forward and knock on her door but struggling.

He had a mission. He had to keep remembering that, even while the cover of  _Vogue_ a few years ago showing her with dark hair slightly messy, wearing a men’s button down and dark red lipstick was buried in a drawer in his closet and wouldn’t leave his mind.

Melinda Qiaolian May was a model who he had basically worshipped for years, ever since he had spotted Pepper reading a magazine and a cutout of the woman. At the time, he had been dating his ex, Audrey, when he had seen Melinda. Her face had distracted him and driven him to look up information about her, only to be drawn in by the interviews and personal details he learned.

It all seemed, perhaps, a bit stalkerish. He knew she was exactly five feet, four inches (exactly five inches shorter than him), had brown eyes and weighed one-hundred ten pounds (while not someone who would refuse to eat anything but lettuce and drink nothing but water, she was a workout fiend), and that Melinda May refused to wear makeup unless she was taking a shoot. Her mother had been a pilot and her father had been a war veteran, and though May had thought about going into the field like them, a fashion designer found her while passing through her hometown and asked her to take part in one of his shoots, and started booking her jobs.

Melinda was a fan of boxing and sparring, and though she wasn’t friends with many other models, she liked to pull pranks sometimes and was incredibly brilliant- nearly making valedictorian if her career hadn’t pulled her out of high school.

He had been crushing on a woman he’d never met, and now, due to a designer suspected of making deals with the destructive corporation Hydra, Fury had sent him on a mission to ask for her help. Melinda May’s help in particular, mostly because when she had been suggested he had turned bright red and Trip had guessed the rest, and several other agents had decided on May mostly to embarrass Phil.

Just as Coulson was about to knock- feeling jittery and uncomfortable as he did- the door before him opened, and out came the very woman he had planned on speaking to, wearing a fluffy black robe with wet hair falling over her shoulders. 

Coulson hadn’t expected Melinda May to be as pretty as her pictures- he knew that magazines photoshopped everything, not to mention the work that could be done with makeup. He had expected her to not look as beautiful. Instead, Melinda looked more so.

Her skin was dark and tanned, but rather than the flawless sight it was on paper, he noticed beauty marks and the faintest smile lines around her eyes. Dark hair, rather than perfectly jelled, fell loose and dark. Her eyes were the softest brown and seemed so dark and secretive- the kind of eyes that made her look dangerous, but at the same time showed a hint of a sparkle. 

“Hi.” He said, feeling like an idiot as the woman who had likely just stepped out of the shower stood before him. 

“Hi.” She responded awkwardly, looking at him. He saw that she was barefoot, and with his shoes on, he stood taller than her and she was looking up at him. He swallowed nervously, trying to loosen his tie and feeling like a mess.

“My… My name is Phil. Coulson. Phil Coulson. I’m with… WIth S.H.I.E.L.D.” He said, shifting from foot to foot. When she stared back at him, looking confused, he chose to elaborate. “It’s an organization that specializes in the safety and protection of-”

“I know what S.H.I.E.L.D. is.” She said, interrupting him. Phil gave a jerky nod. “My mother was associated with them some years ago. Is something wrong?” She asked.

He shook his head quickly, trying to reassure her, before remembering that, yes, an organization meant to destroy lives was possibly working within the same industry as her. “Well… It’s… Sort of. There is a group, and we were looking… We wanted someone who could help myself, and possibly other agents, to get inside the company, specifically into the Grant Ward fashion show. We have intel that there are some goings on between the designer and a corporation that we’ve been trying to keep down for some time now.” He said, finally finishing and feeling a drop of sweat drip down his hairline.

May nodded. “I can help with that. Maybe you could give me the details? Usually friends and family of the models can get backstage access… If you stay undercover, Ward will think we’re dating and you can get backstage.” She said, walking back into her dressing room and leaving the door open for him.

Phil gulped. Maybe this plan wasn’t such a bad idea after all.


	2. Asking Her Out

“It’s the perfect place for Hydra to exchange information. We know Ward has connections to them, and there are going to be a ton of people there. Easy to hide, no one stands out, and people will be distracted.” Phil explained to the woman who stood behind a changing curtain backstage during the Grant Ward Fashion Show, an event S.H.I.E.L.D. had plans to look into with him behind the scenes. He watched as Melinda May’s silhouette slid on a dress, more than enraptured by the sight of her. 

“I would think so. It can get pretty hectic, and Ward… Well, let’s just say I’m not a fan.” She said, walking out from behind the screen wearing a long, black gown that he could tell would be stunning on her, hair pinned up so that the glossy black strands only showed in touches around her face, long smooth pieces. “Could you button this?” She asked, turning around so that he could see her back.

The back of the dress was made up of a line of tiny buttons, going from the small of her back to between her shoulder blades. He swallowed. The gap between the fabric where it remained unbuttoned showed an ample amount of smooth skin and, he noted, the delicate black lace of her bra. “Yes.” He said, irritated how raspy his voice sounded and standing, walking to stand just behind her, his gaze on the twists of her hair woven up on her head before dropping to his hands, nearly trembling to button the dress.

“Ward runs the show, but he’s also one of the judges.” She said, and he wasn’t sure, but he thought he felt her shiver when his hands brushed her skin buttoning the dress. “He gets the models to sleep with him and gives them a higher score for it.”

Phil sneered. “That is disgusting.” He said, making his way through the buttons and finding the tiny ribbon at the top, tying it off smoothly and inspecting her back to be sure he got every last one.

“Did it once. He was bad in bed." 

He laughed a bit. "I don’t think you need to sleep with a judge to get the highest score. You’re Melinda May.” He said, not thinking about it. Sure, she wasn’t as well known as some models, but she was the most beautiful. She turned to face him, giving him a glance of the smokey eyemakeup they’d smeared onto her eyelids.

It looked pretty, but he much preferred the lack of makeup.

“The fact that I actually have a personality and tend to get mad when men make rude remarks about my body and looks turns most people off.” She responded with a half-smirk.

“Just makes you more attractive.” He said, turning to look at some notes he’d been given from Fury.

“If you like it so much, maybe you should go on a real date with me.” She said, and he turned to look at her over his shoulder, trying to gauge if she meant it.

One eyebrow raised to him, she crossed her arms. “I have to be out there in five minutes, but I would prefer an answer now.” She said.

“I-I know a diner.” He stuttered. “Small town in Pennsylvania. We could go there, maybe? Eat… Food?” He offered dumbly, mentally smacking himself for his stupidity.

“You’re cute.” She said, smiling and walking to him, kissing his cheek, causing Phil to blush a deep shade of crimson. “Saturday, at noon?”

“It’s a date.”


End file.
